Earth Day is intended to inspire humans to appreciate our natural environment. And nature certainly deserves appreciation since we depend on it for our survival. We depend on nature and we love it!

When we study the mushrooming towns, cities and roads, we look around and everywhere we see eyesores. On the other hand, when we look an untouched natural landscape (a forest, a million year old mountain range, a blanket of stars over an endless blue ocean, or a palm fringed beach touched by sunrise) what we see inspires happiness. This is reason enough to preserve nature and we must focus our efforts strongly in this direction.

In the 6 years since Raja Laut set sail we have crossed many seas, and seen a great deal of natural beauty. What were the highlights? Here are our 3 personal favourites:

The Komodo National Park

All of it - east to west, south to north, below and above water.  Savanna landscapes, contrast with aquamarine blue and sunsets that make unbelievable colour combinations, scuba diving sites that set the pulse racing, and the Komodo Dragon - a giant reptile that grows to 3 meters and feeds itself with carrion, birds and other mammals such as pigs or deers.

Seascapes of the Raja Ampat

In English, Raja Ampat means Four kings. Maybe it is a predestined name, because the Raja Ampat archipelago is truly majestic. The archipelago encompasses more than 1500 islands, the four main islands (hence the four kings ) being Misool, Salawati, Batanta and Waigeo.  Above water landscapes describe paradise, and below water seacapes are the most bio-diverse in the world.

Turtles in East Borneo

The nutrient rich water flowing through the Sulu-Sulawesi seas on the east coast of Borneo attract turtles in great numbers.  So much so that when you dive in Sidapan they're swimming across, above, and below you so you're almost bumping into them. Just below the scary drop off which plunges down 500m is the eerie Turtle tomb discovered by Jacques Cousteau.  On nearby Sangalaki island I was lucky enough to see turtles laying eggs on the island and even seeing turtles eggs hatching and little turtles running down the beach at night.  This was a magical experience.

Food from Bali

Dining in Bali is generally a highlight. You may choose to eat in a five star hotel restaurant, or you may prefer a breezy open sided bamboo cafe. Hotels and restaurants in Bali offer guests a wide variety of excellent dishes to satisfy every budget and taste. When you feel like venturing outside for a meal, there are dozens of good restaurants to be found in the main streets of Kuta, Legian, Ubud, Candidasa, Lovina, Sanur and most of the major tourist areas.

The simple and relaxed restaurants, often with grass roofs, cane furniture and the latest top 40 singles blasting through the hi-fi systems are almost everywhere. Even more simple, are the warungs, the snack bars and the mobile carts that cater mainly to local workers and adventurous travellers who have discovered that low cost hawker meals really can be safe to eat.

The night markets are traditional outdoor eateries that come to life at dusk, and are famous all over Southeast Asia. Even if you cannot work up the courage to eat in the markets, you must visit one to experience the thrills, the smells, the sights and the noises that define this part of the world.

Surprisingly, authentic Balinese food is rarely enjoyed by the island's thousands of visitors, simply because it is rarely served in hotels and restaurants. True, a wide variety of exotic dishes are available, but the typical fare is Indonesian and Chinese.

The true Balinese cuisine is, like all else in Bali, a matter of contrasts. Just as there are men and women, good and evil, night and day, there is everyday food, and there is festival food. The staple of daily fare is rice, accompanied by vegetables, a small amount of fish or meat, and a range of condiments, usually cooked in the early morning, and consumed whenever the need arises, often as snacks. Most Balinese meals are eaten quickly and without fanfare. Dining out and in groups is not a normal social custom.

Festivals are the major exception. Food is prepared in an elaborate and decorative manner and is eaten communally, marking the occasion as something out of the ordinary.

Some tourist restaurants present special Bali nights, featuring dishes such as suckling pig, a Balinese banquet favorite. Unless you are invited to dine with a local family, these special events may be your only way to sample the true Balinese cuisine.

From 

In a few weeks time the Raja Laut will be setting sail for the Maluku Islands. If you have not heard of the Maluku islands before you're not alone. Today they are an isolated group of islands which lie off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The islands do however have another name, a much older name, which recalls a very different time for the islands, they are the "Spice Islands".

There are in fact, a few places in the world that lay claim to be the "spice islands" but the Maluku Islands were certainly the original and the most important. For centuries the trade of spices from east to west made people incredible wealthy. Almost no one had an overall picture of the trade and people in Europe had no idea of where the spice were coming from.

At one time the Maluku islands were the only source for spices, such as nutmeg and cloves, on the face of the planet. The extraordinary profitability of the spice trade had created power struggles thought history. The ancient Egyptians traded in spices, as did the Greeks and the Romans, but with the fall of the Roman Empire, Spices were hardly seen in Europe for 500 years until the Crusaders reopened the trade route. The return of spices to Europe made some areas very rich, such as Venice which rose and fell with the spice trade.

Some of the great explorers of the world - Marco Polo, Columbus, Magellen and Drake - were driven to find the source of the Spices and therefore "cut out" the middle men, and make massive profits. When Columbus set out to west he was not looking for the Americas he was looking for a new route to the Spice islands.

It was Magellan who in the early 16th century opened up the way to the Spice islands and the rest of Europe where not far behind: the Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish and the British all left their footprints on the islands. But it was the Portuguese and the Dutch that fought each other for control of the island group, building forts and ruling the area with an iron fist.

The British took control of the islands for a very short period of time, after their victory in the Napoleonic wars. It had been impossible to get live seeds off the islands for hundreds of years, now the British had open access to them. They quickly went about cultivating spices in their other colonies. This ended the monopoly on spices that the Maluku islands had held for over a millennium and their importance quickly diminished.

Today the islands offer a magnificent experience to any visitor. With over a thousand islands in the group, being on a yacht is a great way to explore the area. Each island has it own story, traditions, and geography: from towering volcanic slopes to idyllic coral islands.

West Papua

Maluku

Palau

A voyage for an ambitious adventurer, it is a journey that reminds us of why Southeast Asia holds a mystique matched by few other areas on earth: A crossroads between Eastern and Western civilizations, with its ancient spice routes, amazing cultural diversity and, at it's heart, the jungles of Borneo, with its history of headhunters, traders and explorers.

The journey begins in Singapore, a port the young Conrad was very familiar with during his time working aboard the trading ship S.S. Vidar as first officer. From Singapore we sail to Kuching, the capital of the state of Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo (ancient land of headhunters), where we visit the remnants of the Brooke Raj (a dynasty of British men known as the "White Rajahs").

Borneo is also an opportunity for Wildlife and Rainforest adventures. This is the overland section where you visit the UNESCO World Heritage Mulu Caves, and the discover the spectacular wildlife of the Kinabatangan River. The Kinabatangan is one of Borneo's largest rivers, where you can see Orang Utan, pygmy elephants, pythons, crocs, and other wildlife up close. Our guests rejoin the Raja Laut in Semporna and the journey continues to Sipadan an oceanic island with world class scuba diving once described by Jacques Cousteau as "an untouched piece of art".

Finally, we sail from Sipadan to the Berau islands in East Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), including Kakaban, Maratua, and Sangalaki. The area has a variety of dive sites including pristine reefs, wall diving, drift dives, caves and lagoons. Manta Rays sometimes gather in great numbers on Sangalaki, which is also a year round nesting site for turtles. On the mainland is the Berau river, the original setting of Conrad's first novel Almayer's Folly. For those who want to continue the journey there are proboscis monkeys in the delta, and further up river the town of Berau (formerly the seat of the Sultan of Gunung Tabor, who had bestowed William Lingard with the "Raja Laut" title). Further still, in the heart of Borneo, are indigenous Dayak people who live in longhouses and love to share with you their love of rice wine and dancing.

Day 1: Embarkation in Singapore. Sail to Riau islands.
Day 2: Riau islands
Day 3: Riau islands
Day 4: Sarawak, Kuching. Explore the remnants of the Brooke Raj
Day 5: Fly to Miri and then to Mulu National Park
Day 6: Mulu caves tour
Day 7: Fly to Sandakan for Kinabatangan river and wildlife tour
Day 8: Kinabatangan river and wildlife tour
Day 9: Rejoin the vessel in the Semporna Marine Park
Day 10: Mabul and Sipadan islands
Day 11: Mabul and Sipadan islands
Day 12: Maratua and Kakaban islands
Day 13: Sangalaki island
Day 14: Transfer to Tawau Airport for return flight home

Further Reading:
Conrad and the S.S. Vidar
Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad
The White Rajahs
William Lingard
Borneo Wildlife and Rainforest Tours
Berau/Derwawan Marine Park
We also recommend this account of overland travel from Singapore to Berau by Eric Madeen called
"In Conrad's Wake"

See the video on You Tube

The story is about the historical events that happened in 1914 when 50 German marines, who were stranded on the Cocos Island, after their ship the SMS Emden was sunk by the Allies, set sail on a dilapidated schooner called the 'Ayesha' in an attempt to make it home to Germany.

The schooner Raja Laut was chartered to play the role of the Ayesha by the German production company Behrengar Pfahl who chose to film in Sri Lanka because the Dutch fort in Galle and the natural beauty of the Sri Lankan coastline allowed them to represent both the Cocos and the port of Padang in Sumatra (which was where the Emden Men ultimately sailed to and which was at the time a Dutch colony) without having to change locations.

The Emden Men's journey was an incredible one. They not only crossed the ocean with no charts and very little supplies, they then fought their way through the Arabian desert to arrive months later, and against all odds, to a heroes welcome in Berlin.

The ultimate tragedy in the end was that most of these men would perish in the Battle of the Jutland the following year.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the way air travel in Asia is growing so fast, getting to the islands of the Andaman Sea and Phang Nga Bay has never been easier. Especially from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital, and also from Singapore. These are, of course, the two most advanced countries in Southeast Asia today and while perhaps not quite as exciting and alluring for the traveller as neighboring Thailand, they are nevertheless ideal gateways to the region with truly modern, world-class airports.

Emerald Isles - While most people know of Phuket, the Malaysian island of Langkawi (only 120 miles south of Phuket) is a very convenient but often overlooked, gateway to Phang Nga Bay and the Andaman Sea. Langkawi today is an established 5-star resort and yachting destination, surrounded by stunning beaches and a backdrop of lush rainforest-covered mountains.

Marine Gateway - A short sail from Langkawi brings you to the beautiful Tarutao Marine National Park, and from here you can hop northwards among the hundreds of islands of Phuket and Phang-Nga Bay, Similan, Surin and the Mergui Archipelago. Though not nearly as well-known as Phuket, Langkawi has long since attracted yachts from around the world, and there are now 3 marinas serving the many yachts based here:

• Telaga Harbour Marina


• Royal Langkawi Yacht Club Marina


• Rebak Resort Marina

Location - Langkawi is just a 45 minute flight northeast of Kuala Lumpur.

Getting there - Today there are over 10 flights per day from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi with several airlines to choose from:

• AirAsia has regular services from Kuala Lumpur


• Malaysia Airlines has regular services from Kuala Lumpur


• SilkAir has regular services from Singapore


• Firefly has regular services from Penang

1. TNK is populated by roughly 2,400 komodo dragons, the greatest lizard in the world.
2. TNK comprises the islands of Rinca, Padar and Komodo.
3. The Indonesian government officially announced TNK in 1980.
4. TNK is 173,300 hectares.
5. Topographically, the islands are hilly. And the valleys are home ranchs to komodo dragons.
6. UNESCO has decided TNK as a World Heritage since 1986.
7. Not only has the komodo, TNK is also splendid for maritime tourism. I'm talking about snorkeling and diving.
8. There you can find also komodo dragon's preys, e.g. wild buffalos, wild boars, deer, and maleo birds which are indigenous to Komodo Island.
9. You may see the juvenile komodo living on the trees, like the small other lizards. Hatchlings, the little dragons emerge from the nest and immediately scramble up the nearest tree to avoid being eaten by the adults. Yes, komodo dragon is cannibal creature.
10. TNK is two days trip from Bali by land (and sea) lane. And from Bali (Ngurah Rai Airport) to Komodo Airport is about 1.5 hours trip by air lane.
11. The Sape Straits in west side of TNK is area where two main oceans in the world, Indian and Pacific Ocean, meet. It's dangerous because the whirlpools and great waves sometimes happen.

Long, long ago, a mythical princess lived on Komodo, whom people called Putri Naga or Dragon Princess. She married a man named Najo and bore him twins: one was a baby boy, and the other a baby dragon. Her son, named Si Gerong, was raised amongst men; the dragon she called Orah, and reared it in the forest. Neither knew anything of the other ...

Years later, manly Si Gerong shot a deer whilst hunting in the forest. But as he stepped forward to take this quarry, a large lizard appeared from the thicket and seized it hungrily. Si Gerong tried hard to chase the beast away, but in vain. It stood firm over the carcass, warning him off with bared teeth and hissing sound.

Si Gerong raised his spear to kill the lizard, when suddenly a radiantly lovely woman appeared: the Dragon Princess. Swiftly, she pared the foes, telling Si Gerong, "Dont kill the animal, she is your sister Orah. I bore you together, consider her your equal because you are "Sebai" (twins)."

From then on, the inhabitants of the island treated the Komodo's with kindness. Old Komodo's who could no longer fend for themselves were fed by their human "brothers".

The name of the cave where the egg hatched is LOANG ATAWINI, "Woman's Quarters". It is situated on the Southern part of Komodo Island. It is also the place of the grave of Najo, the man who was the husband of the Dragon Princess. The tomb is sacred, and the Dragon Princes is supposed to be there at all times ...

So it is now, once again, that highly anticipated time of the year when Raja Laut sets her sights southwards to the magnificence of Indonesia and Borneo, the 3rd largest island in the world.

Malaysian Borneo is well-endowed by Mother Nature, with imposing mountain ranges, lush rainforests, swollen rivers, a smattering of idyllic islands, and a smorgasbord of natural charm and friendly locals! We can never talk too highly of Malaysian Borneo - one of our favourite places in the world - and an area that offers up a highly rewarding cruising experience for those who know where to go.

Borneo is also Raja Laut's birthplace, her spiritual home. The schooner was built on these shores, and with it our dream of exploring Borneo, Bali and beyond!

The clue is right there in the name 'Born(eo)'! And true to this name Borneo is the birthplace of many an inspiring, impossibly romantic, yet sometimes very real adventure... which is a conclusion the writer Joseph Conrad must have come to having traced the paths to Borneo many times both as a sailor and novelist. Conrad did more than any other to make Borneo legend, and we like to think of the journey from the Andaman sea to Borneo, and then Bali as 'Conrads Voyage'.

For much of the English speaking world, and for Conrad in particular, interest in Borneo began with the 'White Rajah' of Sarawak - Englishman James Brooke, who sailed from Singapore, armed with a 100ft schooner (not unlike the Raja Laut) and an inheritance to take on the feared headhunters and pirates of Borneo, claim the Kingdom of Sarawak and found a dynasty that lasted from 1860 to 1940.

But these are stories for another time.

For now suffice to say that some 150 years since the days of Rajah Brooke and the headhunters of Borneo, we are having an immense amount of fun re-discovering these adventures and we look forward one day to sharing them with you !

Ahoy,

Team Raja Laut

As we enter into the Year of the Ox we are announcing several significant upgrades to the yacht, including the laying of a new deck, making the schooner Raja Laut better than ever for all of our friends and guests.

For the deck no expense or effort was spared, with several months in the preparation and construction. Raja Laut has 90m2 of deck space and every inch has been replaced with high grade Burmese Teak.

The results were well worth it, as the deck makes a real impression on the eye, as well as under(bare)foot, the moment you step aboard, with light shades of golden brown and a lovely grain.

Improvements to the sails and rigging were undertaken at the same time - new lighter gaff booms made from timber, more than 300 meters of rope, 20 new blocks, canvas re-cut, and an improved configuration all making sailing faster, simpler and more elegant.

To find more information on the Raja Laut and her construction go to Raja Laut Details

Best Wishes & Happy Niu (Ox) Year!

Ahoy,

Team Raja Laut

Inaugurated in 1987 to celebrate the 60th birthday of His Majesty the King of Thailand, the event has been held every year since during the first week of December. With the Royal Patronage of His Majesty is organised by the Phuket King's Cup Regatta Organising Committee under the auspices of the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, in conjunction with the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand, the Royal Thai Navy, and the Province of Phuket.

Property developer Raimon Land has once again extended title sponsorship to the King's Cup Regatta for a further five years, and the classes this year include IRC racing, Sportsboat, Firefly 850, Sunsail One Design, Multihull, Bareboat charter, Ocean Rover, and Classic.

This year the yacht Raja Laut will be in attendance not to race, but to shadow the races and attend to the supporting parties of photographers, agents, friends and old sea dogs !

A Raja Laut yacht charter is an option during the King's Cup as well for the Raja Muda International Regatta (Malaysia), and the Singapore Straits Regatta (Singapore).

Do your staff need rewarding, your clients thanking? For you, your company and clients we can organize a Raja Laut regatta yacht charter: for an exhilarating time we can the yacht Raja Laut in the classic racing category, or for a leisurely cruise we can sail out to view the regattas themselves.

If you would like to make your own itinerary or have any special requests, just ask! We provide professional friendly and experienced skipper & crew for your safety and enjoyment, so sailing experience is not necessary.

For more information don't hesitate to contact us.

Fair winds,
Team Raja Laut